Join us for the Private Sector Wedge in Climate Mitigation Public Seminar.
The Board on Environmental Change and Society (BECS) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) is hosting a public seminar with expert panels exploring the scientific, technical and governance issues regarding the US greenhouse gas emissions reductions contributed by the private sector over the last decade and the opportunity to contribute additional emissions reductions through the next decade. Change agents will learn from individual experts (acting in their personal capacities—not as a committee or on behalf of their employers) about the technical potential of private sector actions, the current state of scientific understanding around key strategies to achieve the potential impact, and outstanding scientific and technical questions that require collaboration to explore.
Background
In the last decade, private sector initiatives to address greenhouse gas emissions and scale up climate solutions have proliferated in the United States and globally. These initiatives have included collaborative efforts among non-profit groups and corporations, unilateral corporate activities, new climate-focused business associations, and advocacy campaigns by non-profit groups. Many major corporations have now committed to climate targets, but there is substantial room for growth in the number of companies that have made commitments, including in hard-to-decarbonize sectors and among small and medium-sized enterprises. In addition, the extent to which commitments will be translated into action remains uncertain. These private climate governance initiatives have the potential to fill gaps in, accelerate, or compete with government action. Private climate governance initiatives arise through a bottom-up process, which enables creativity and bypasses barriers, but no entity is responsible for identifying gaps in current initiatives and directing resources to the most important opportunities. This seminar will assess the emissions reductions achieved over the last decade and the barriers and opportunities for the next decade, with a focus on assessing research gaps and identifying the most promising opportunities.
Panelists
Gwen Keyes Fleming advises a wide variety of business, institutional and organizational clients on all aspects of environmental policy, government relations, compliance planning, incident response, subsequent enforcement and litigation matters and special investigations for private and municipal clients. Fleming has spent more than twenty years in the public sector, serving as both an elected and appointed official at the state and local levels, as well as in various branches of the federal government.
David J. Hayes served as Special Assistant to the President for Climate Policy at the White House from President Biden's inauguration through September 2022. Hayes had a wide-ranging climate portfolio in the White House including reducing greenhouse gas emissions and deploying nature-based climate solutions, accelerating our nation's transition to a clean energy economy, and increasing communities’ resilience in the face of climate-related wildfire, drought, flood, extreme heat, and coastal risks.
Angel Hsu is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Environment, Energy and Ecology at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Her research explores the intersection of science and policy and the use of data-driven approaches to understand environmental sustainability, particularly in the areas of climate change and energy, urbanization, and air quality.
Kate Larsen is a Partner at Rhodium Group and leads the firm’s international energy and climate research and ClimateDeck data service. Kate specializes in analysis of the impacts of climate and clean energy policies on global greenhouse gas emissions and strategies for deep decarbonization.
Lou Leonard is Dean of the Falk School of Sustainability & Environment at Chatham University. Leonard worked for more than a decade as senior vice president for climate and energy at the World Wildlife Fund where he was directly involved in negotiations leading to the Paris Climate Change Agreement, helped launch partnerships like the We Are Still In coalition, and built a multi-faceted climate team for one of the world’s largest civil society organizations.
Aseem Prakash is professor of political science, the Walker Family Professor for the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Founding Director of the Center for Environmental Politics at University of Washington, Seattle. He studies environmental policy, climate governance, NGOs and nonprofits, and voluntary/private regulation.
Ben Ratner is the Executive Director at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Ratner is responsible for supporting JPMorgan Chase’s sustainability strategy and helping to further integrate sustainability into the company’s efforts to drive inclusive growth, including low-carbon technology acceleration and community climate resilience.
Benjamin K. Sovacool is Professor of Earth and Environment at Boston University as well as Director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy at Boston University. His research focuses on renewable energy and energy efficiency, the politics of large-scale energy infrastructure, designing public policy to improve energy security and access to electricity, the ethics of energy, and building adaptive capacity to the consequences of climate change
Michael P. Vandenbergh is a leading scholar in environmental and energy law whose research explores the relationship between formal legal regulation and informal social regulation of individual and corporate behavior. His work focuses on the reduction of carbon emissions from the individual and household sector as well as how social norms play an influence on firm behavior and the ways in which private contracting can enhance or undermine public governance.
Agenda for the virtual Public Seminar:
Friday, December 2, 10:00-12:20
10:00 Introduction to Public Seminar
Michael Vandenbergh, Professor of Law, Vanderbilt University, Board on Environmental Change and Society
Panel 1: The Private Sector Wedge Over the Last Decade
10:05 Panel Introductions
Benjamin Sovacool, Director, Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability,
Board on Environmental Change and Society
10:15 The Development of the Private Climate Governance System Over the Last Decade
Louis Leonard, Dean, Falk School of Sustainability & Environment, Chatham University
10:35 The Emissions Reductions Attributable to Private Sector Action Over the
Last Decade and Opportunities for the Next Decade
Angel Hsu, Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
11:00 The Effect of Private Sector Climate Action on the Practice of Law
Gwen Keyes Fleming, Partner, DLA Piper
Panel 2: The Private Sector Wedge Over the Next Decade
11:15 Panel Introductions
Aseem Prakash, Professor of Professor of Political Science, University of Washington,
Board on Environmental Change and Society
11:20 Private Sector Initiatives Over the Next Decade: Opportunities and Challenges for
Governments
David Hayes, Former Special Assistant to the President for Climate Policy
11:35 Barriers to Private Sector Action Over the Next Decade: Moving Beyond the Low Hanging
Fruit
Kate Larsen, Partner, Rhodium Group
11:50 The Role of Finance in Private Sector Climate Action over the Next Decade
Ben Ratner, Executive Director for JP Morgan Chase and Company
12:05 Audience Questions
12:20 Conclusion
